Black Bear
by Hammy Uchiha
Summary: Yondy has decided to go camping with Naruto, and of course Hinata and Sasuke have to come along. Out in the great outdoors people have the tendancy to get lost, but Hokages don't get lost...do they? [sequel to Konoha Daycare]


**You asked for it. WOO HOO! another Yondy Naruto story. Please excuse any typos, I didn't get a chance to go through it. Please point out the mistakes.  
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**Please Read and Review, because I know you lurkers are out there and Sai's abs have no tolerance for such people today...**

**Note: I don't own Naruto, if I did, Obito would never have died.**

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**Black Bear **

Hammy Uchiha

"How would you like to go camping?" asked Arashi Uzumaki one morning of his young son. Swinging his legs from the chair the little blonde nodded enthusiastically.

"Could Sasuke come with us?" asked Naruto. Arashi wondered vaguely if the two boys would be too much for him. _If I could put up with Kakashi and Obito, I can do anything._

"Sure," said Arashi munching on his dinner.

"And Hinata-chan, too?" asked Naruto pushing it. _Three of them?_ Arashi doubted the shy little Hyuga would be trouble, but would her father allow it? Or Fugaku as well.

"You'll have to get them to ask their parents," answered the Hokage. "And soon, we're leaving tomorrow morning," he said.

"Right!" answered Naruto, sliding off his chair. He ran out of the room. As the Yondaime watched him go, he wondered what he had just gotten himself into.

As it turned out Fugaku did not care, Mikoto was fearful for her son, but Itachi approved which was all the confirmation the two boys needed. Sasuke packed up a back pack and trouped after Naruto to Hinata's house.

They stood waiting on the front step after Naruto had rung the bell. At last the door opened to reveal a boy with long dark hair.

"What do you want?" asked Neji Hyuga. The two boys bowed politely in greeting.

"Is Hinata-chan home?" asked Naruto with a winner smile. The Hyuga's expressionless face remained the same.

"Hai," he answered. The two boys waited as Neji stood glaring at them.

"Can we see her?" asked Sasuke at last. Neji rolled his eyes.

"You just had to ask," said Neji leading the two boys through the fancy Hyuga residence. Neji lead them to court yard where Hinata was thrown to the dirt by her father.

"You must be strong," commanded her father. Hinata weakly pushed herself to her knees.

"Hai, Oto-sama," she managed to whisper, wiping blood from her lip. Her father groaned as he saw the two boys off to the side.

"Neji-san, what are those two doing here?" demanded Hiashi.

"They wanted to see Hinata-sama," answered Neji. Hinata blushed when she saw Naruto and Sasuke off to the side.

"Naruto-kun," she whispered staggering up. "Sasuke-kun, what is it?" she asked as they met her.

"You want to come camping with us?" asked Sasuke and Naruto. Hinata looked at her feet for a minute before turning around to look at her father who was still glaring at them.

"Oto-sama?" she asked timidly.

"What is it?" demanded her father.

"C…could I go…c…camping with Naruto and Sasuke?" she asked. Hiashi frowned.

"You must train to get stronger, Hinata," said her father. Hinata looked down at her toes.

"I…I'm sorry," she whispered to the two boys. Sasuke and Naruto weren't about to stand for it. Naruto walked toward the tall Hyuga.

"Can't she just take a break for a while?" asked the little Uzumaki. Hiashi glared down at Naruto.

"Champions don't take breaks," he replied. Sasuke stepped in.

"We'll practice with Hinata, I promise," said the Uchiha. Hiashi looked down at the two little boys challenging him, and then his forlorn daughter. With a growl he turned and walked away.

"So be it," he said.

"Yes!" cried the two boys giving each other high fives. Hinata smiled with relief as the two boys caught her hands and dragged her off to pack.

Arashi was amazed when an hour and a half later, Naruto returned with both Sasuke and Hinata. _Somehow he managed to get through to old Hiashi…_ The Hokage sent them off to go to sleep early.

"We're going to leave early tomorrow morning," the Yondaime informed the three as they dutifully rolled out their sleeping bags on the living room floor. It was around midnight when Arashi finished packing and went to bed.

Early the next morning, really early, around 5:30 Arashi was awoken to three kids bouncing on his bed.

"Oyaji-san!" called Naruto. "It's time to get up!"

"We're going camping!" cheered Sasuke and Hinata. The Hokage managed to sit up.

"C'mon Dad!" whined Naruto grabbing his arm, and attempting to pull his father out of bed. With the help of Hinata and Sasuke Arashi stumbled out of bed, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

In an hour they left, the three kids bouncing ahead of Arashi, who had the biggest bag. As the Hokage tried to fully wake up, he watched as the three were practically bursting with energy. _Children, I'll never understand them…_ He wondered if he really was getting old. _Old?_ Arashi chuckled rubbing the stubble on his chin. _I don't look like old man Sarutobi, nope, I'm not old._ That made Arashi feel better. At that minute they passed through the Konoha gates and out into the great wilderness.

Kakashi and the other jounin at the gate saluted to the Hokage as he left the village.

They passed through the gate and into the great outdoors, a place where people often got lost, but Hokages don't get lost, do they?

Arashi led the way up the trails into the mountains. It was about mid day when they reached the point Arashi had been heading for. It was high up with a tremendous view. They stopped there, throwing down their bags and standing at the cliff and looking out. The view stretched on for what seemed like forever.

"Woah, I can see Konoha!" exclaimed Sasuke pointing out at the faraway village.

"It's b…beautiful," gasped Hinata.

"Look, there's the Hokage faces," said Naruto pointing. The Yondaime smiled and folded his arms. "You know what?" asked Naruto quietly.

"What?" asked Arashi.

"I'm gonna be the next Hokage," answered Naruto. Arashi ruffled his son's hair.

"You'll have to beat me first, kid," he said with a grin. Naruto grinned back.

"Okay, you can enjoy the view later, let's set up the tent!" called Arashi and the three kids scampered off to get the tent bag. Arashi looked out across the view, remembering the day he had first met his wife here. He had been lost in the woods, but stumbled across her camp way up here._ Haru._ Arashi let out a sad little sigh, before moving to help the kids with the tent.

It took them a good while before they assembled something that looked vaguely like a tent. Then the Yondaime instructed them in fishing down at a stream. The three waited patiently for something to bite their hooks…well they waited patiently for about three minutes, then Naruto perched on the edge of the bank and tried to grab fish out of the water. Sasuke thought this was a great idea and joined his best friend at the edge of the rushing stream. Hinata watch through the hands over her face as the two leaned dangerously close to falling in the rushing water.

"N…Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, b…be careful," she whispered.

"Don't worry about it Hinata, I'm an ace ninja, believe it!" answered Naruto as he tried to reach too far. He slipped falling forward into the rapids. Sasuke caught him by the back of his shirt, and fought against gravity to get Naruto out of the water. Sasuke caught hold of some weeds, to keep himself from slipping in, but the weeds jerked from the soil and Sasuke went sliding down the bank. Hinata caught his hand, and held on as tightly as she could.

"Arashi-sama," she called fearfully. "Arashi-sama!"

Her own position slipped and the three went crashing into the water. Sasuke caught a hold of Hinata as Naruto and he tried to slow their decent down the river.

Suddenly they passed Arashi's fishing line. The hook caught onto Naruto's shirt.

"Woo! I must have got a big one!" came Arashi's voice from the top of the bank. Sasuke caught Naruto's hand and still holding onto Hinata, the three were reeled up into the air.

"This is sure one strange looking fish," remarked Arashi when he pulled the three to dry land. "But us hungry mountain men have to eat," he said evilly, then tickling them. At last as they lay giggling in the deep grass, Arashi stood back.

"Alright-y, men….and lady, march back to the tent immediately for dry clothes before you catch a cold," he commanded them. Up they leapt and marched off. Arashi sat back with his fishing rod and closed his eyes to wait. When the three came marching back they met up with the Yondaime on his way back carrying two gigantic fish.

"Woah," gasped the two boys as Hinata blushed.

"Dinner is served," proclaimed Arashi.

That night they sat around the fire munching on their fish while Arashi asked about what they wanted to do the next day. Naruto wanted to go to the peak of the mountain, Sasuke didn't really care and Hinata just preferred that they didn't go too high. Arashi found his mind wandering away from the night and into to the past. Remembering the blonde he had met in the woods that day ten years ago. She was a determined woman, determined to be the best. She was a missing nin from another village, retired from the shinobi career. Her sparkling azure eyes danced in Arashi's mind as the three younglings discussed all the things they could do. One by one they dropped off to sleep, curled up together around the blazing fire. Arashi was startled from his thoughts as there came a loud hoot of an owl. Noticing how the fire was dying and the kids had already hit the sack, he got up. Then he scooped them up Sasuke and Hinata first then coming back for Naruto. The little blonde sleepily opened his eyes as Arashi lifted him up.

Naruto blinked sleepily at his father and curled up closer. Arashi sighed sadly thinking of how much Naruto's eyes were like Haru's.

The following morning the sun shining through the tent's windows awoke Arashi and then one by one the children woke up. At last they had to roll the hard sleeper out of the tent so they could pack up the tent, as no shaking or yelling could arise him. At last when they had managed to stuff the tent back into its bag Sasuke sat up with a yawn. He rubbed his eyes and looked around.

"What's going on?" he asked noticing he was sitting in the dirt. Naruto, Hinata and Arashi just shook their heads. Sasuke stood up and brushed off the dirt.

"So what are we doing?" asked Naruto. Arashi looked thoughtful for a moment.

"We can hike further up the mountain," he began. "But not too far," he assured Hinata. "We can sleep there tonight and come down the other side and stop down at the lake where we can fish or whatever you guys want to do,"

"S…sounds good to me," said Hinata smiling gratefully. Naruto and Sasuke nodded.

"Then let's go," said Arashi taking the lead. From here on the going just got tougher and they had to stop more frequently as the incline got steeper. It was around noon when they stopped for a break, and something went wrong.

It was several moments after they stopped that they realized that Sasuke had gone missing. Arashi looked around franticly for a couple of minutes, imagining the look on Fugaku's face if he found out the Hokage had lost his youngest son.

"Have either of you seen Sasuke?" asked Arashi. It seemed to dawn on the other two that Sasuke was gone at that moment; they had been so engaged in the climbing of the mountain that their friend had completely slipped their mind. Naruto looked around, as if his father had not already done that.

"I don't know where he is," said the Uzumaki at last scratching his head. Hinata too was dumbly looking around.

"I…I remember he said he had to 'go' and would catch up," Hinata said at last blushing a deep red with embarrassment. Arashi slapped a hand to his forehead.

Sasuke zipped up his pants and then ran off to catch up with his group, but his group, was no where to be seen. The little Uchiha stopped and looked around. He was sure they had been going this way…well; at least, he thought he was sure. Now he wasn't so sure. The little Uchiha looked one way, then the other with no avail to the problem at hand.

"NARUTO!" he called walking forward on what sorta looked like the trail. "HINATA!" he called looking around. "UZUMAKI-SAMA!" His bit his lip as he felt fear set in. He wouldn't cry, he had to be strong like Itachi-niisan. Sasuke looked desperately around, a small tear sliding down his cheek.

"NARUTO!"

"SASUKE-KUN?" called Hinata standing on the trail and looking with fear out into the fearsome forest.

"SASUKE?" called Naruto not far from Arashi who was straining his eyes against the pattern of tree trunks.

"SASUKE!" called the Yondaime. Fugaku would skin him alive, not to mention the awful things that could happen to a little lost boy in the forest.

"W…will Sasuke-kun be alright?" asked Hinata poking her fingers together. Arashi looked determined.

"Don't worry Hinata, we'll find him," answered the Hokage. "C'mon," he said waving the other two along. "Let's back track till we find where he left us!"

Sasuke looked around wide eyed, tears trickling down his small face. He wandered on into the deep forest, with absolutely no idea where he was going. Slowly time ran by. Eternities of terror ticked by slowly until at last Sasuke back into a tree, sniffling he sank to the dead leaves that covered the ground. He buried his head in his head, sniffling, and wondering how this had happened. Suddenly something slightly cold and damp touched his arm. Sasuke looked up terrified, into the deep dark eyes of a black bear.

"Are you sure this was the trail?" asked Naruto as they trouped through the woods. _He makes me doubt myself!_ Arashi tried to grin a confident smile.

"Of course!" he answered in a more confident tone than he felt. Hinata looked around, hanging onto Naruto's arm.

"I hope he isn't too afraid," she whispered. Naruto grinned.

"Sasuke's no coward," he answered. At that moment a cry of absolute horror filled the on coming evening air.

"Sasuke!" they cried rushing forward, but as quick as the cry had come it was gone in the oncoming night. Arashi's eyes were alert in the fading light for marks of a lost boy. At last they spotted footsteps disturbing the piled leaves.

"Sasuke!" called Arashi following the steps, then it was too late. There stood a great black bear over the body of a small boy. She was growling at the oncoming predators.

"Sasuke-kun!" cried Hinata tears filling her eyes when she saw Sasuke.

"I can take her on," said Arashi fiercely, drawing a kunai.

"Wait!" cried Naruto, but it was too late, the Hokage was gone. The Yondaime appeared behind the bear and flung the kunai missing the bear. The bear rose up on her feet and clawed at Arashi, who bent back, just barely missing her sharp claws.

"Stop!" yelled Naruto. Arashi stopped.

"S…she doesn't want to fight," whispered Hinata.

"She's only protecting Sasuke," said Naruto. Arashi felt really stupid.

"Oh, aha ha ha…" he backed away from the bear. "I don't want to hurt him," he said to the bear, who was still growling at him. "I just wanted to protect him, just like you," Arashi tried to explain to the bear. Naruto, with Hinata clinging to his arm, approached the bear.

"Naruto!" called Arashi in fear as the bear turned to the two other children.

"He's our friend," whispered Hinata to the bear, who stared at them for several moments before backing away from Sasuke and turning on Arashi.

"You don't want to eat me," Arashi tried to tell the bear. She growled and charged him. With a shriek Arashi leapt up into a tree. "Please don't eat me!"

"S…Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke opened his eyes to the worried faces of his two best friends.

"Hinata? Naruto?" he murmured sitting up. "Am I dead?" he asked.

"Not yet," said Naruto was as grin. Hinata sighed with relief. Sasuke rubbed his head.

"I had a bad dream," he said. "And I got lost and then there was a bear…"

"You did get lost," said Naruto.

"And a bear," added Hinata. The three turned to the bear as she began to climb the tree after a hysterical Yondaime.

"Pleasedonteatme! Pleasedonteatme!"

"He's with us," spoke up Hinata to the bear. She turned to Hinata, gazing into her eyes for a long moment before nodding her head and then walking off. Arashi slid shakily down the trees. _Now the Hyuga talks to bears?_ He wondered if he was losing his mind. It was then late evening and the sun had almost slipped completely from the sky. Clouds began to obscure the sky.

"We'd better set up out tent here," said Arashi putting down his bags. They had barely managed to get the tent up when it began to rain.

"Just in time," sighed Arashi with relief as they zipped up the door and the rain thundered down outside.

"I'm hungry," complained Sasuke.

"Same here," replied Naruto. Hinata nodded. Arashi just grinned and pulled out a bag of pretzels. The three kids watched him, mouths open in awe as he proceeded to eat them.

"Can I have some?" asked Naruto at last.

"If you want to be the Hokage, you've got to think like one," replied Arashi pushing another pretzels into his mouth.

"But you packed the pretzels before I even told you that I wanted to be Hokage," answered Naruto. "That's not fair. And what about Hinata and Sasuke, they don't get any either?"

"I never said that," said Arashi passing out pretzels to Hinata and Sasuke. Naruto glared at his father who grinning pushed another pretzel into his mouth.

"If you want them so bad," said Arashi. "Come and get them,"

Naruto brought his small fist crashing into his father's face, to the horror filled looks of Sasuke and Hinata. Arashi fell back laughing that his son had actually punched him in the face. Naruto was looking in horror at what he had done, as if he could not believe he had done it. Arashi was holding out the bag of pretzels.

"You win, for now," he said still laughing. Naruto sat down and crossed his arms.

"I don't want them anymore," he declared and looked away. Arashi sat up looking curiously at his pouting son.

"Oh really?" asked Arashi leaning forward and tickling his son. Naruto rolled helplessly laughing before the wrath of the Yondaime Hokage. At last Naruto broke through and tackled Arashi tickling him the best he could. Naruto was no match for the fearsome strength of Arashi, though and Sasuke and Hinata joined him. At last they all lay back pant and grinning widely.

Naruto let out a sigh.

"Can I have those pretzels now?" he asked finally. A bag of pretzels landed on his stomach to the malicious laughter of Arashi.

"Certainly!"

The next morning Sasuke awoke to someone's feet resting on his chest and someone else's feet in his face. With a groan he shoved the feet away shuddering. He sat up yawning. Surprisingly he had woken up before the other three. Pulling his shirt straight and messing with his hair, he crawled to the door, and unzipped it. Rain was still pouring down on the silent woods. The little Uchiha nudged Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto, look," he said as Naruto sat up rubbing his eyes. The little blonde looked out the door into the rain.

"Oh man, its still raining?" he complained. Sasuke zipped back up the door. "What are we going to do?"

"Why don't you ask your dad?" replied Sasuke. Naruto grinned with a nod. He crawled to Arashi.

"Oyaji-san?" he called. His dad groaned and rolled over.

"It's too early," he grumbled.

"But Daaaad…" whined Naruto shaking Arashi's shoulder. The big blonde groaned again and opened his eyes.

"Wh…" Arashi yawned. "What's up Naruto?" he asked.

"Its raining," said Naruto and Sasuke. Arashi sat up.

"Well, that is a problem," he said. "Roll up your sleeping bags and put on your jackets, we're going to hike in the rain," said Arashi. "And wake up Hinata, too."

Within an hour, they were all packed and ready to venture out into the rain.

"We're going to go out and pack up the tent and then see if we can make it to the lake today," he told them. _We've only got three days, there's no time to head back up the mountain…_ So out the climbed into the dripping rain; Arashi took down the poles and the smaller three folded them up as Arashi shook out the tent and rolled it up. The managed to stuff it into it's bag. Then they set out.

Arashi looked at his compass, but…to his own fear… had absolutely no idea where they were, in relation to where they were going. He stopped and three behind him as well. Arashi turned his compass around, and around, but to no avail. That was it. They were lost.

"What's your dad doing?" asked Hinata softly to Naruto. Naruto shrugged.

"Maybe we're lost," he answered.

"Hokages don't get lost," scoffed Sasuke. "…do they?" The three exchanged glances. Arashi randomly sneezed. _Someone must be talking about me…_

"O-kay, right this way," he said and turned hiking off in a direction he figured might possibly be the right way.

Rain dripped down from the leaves of the trees above them and for the longest time, they seemed to be going nowhere. At last they returned to a very familiar spot.

"We're walking in circles!" accused Naruto. Arashi looked more embarrassed, than he was already feeling. He shrugged. Rain trickled down from above. The three kids looked up at the Yondaime who was obviously thinking about this problem.

"I have no idea where we are," admitted the blonde Jounin at last.

"I didn't think that Hokage's could get lost," murmured Sasuke.

"S…so how are we going to get home?" asked Hinata with big fearful eyes on Yondaime. Arashi bit his lip and tried to calculate where they had been when they got off the trail and then how far they had come from there. _It's hopeless._

"If we're on a mountain," said Sasuke at last. "Why don't we just go down the mountain and forget about the lake?" he asked. Naruto nodded. That was a good idea.

"Fine," said Arashi and they started in the best downhill fashion that they could. After a while though, it seemed they were still get nowhere. The clouds overhead were darkening again. Arashi checked his watch. It was only four in the afternoon.

"The weather's not looking so great," commented Arashi. They all stopped looking up through the branches at the dark rain clouds hanging ominously over head. Hinata nodded and then shuddered as a large raindrop hit her on the nose.

There was a deep rumble of thunder as Arashi quickly pulled out the tent. They fought against a rising wind to stake it down and set it up. Rain was pouring down to flashes of lightning as they at last flung themselves under the tent's protective roof. Inside Arashi pulled out a deck of cards as the rain came down and they played some Go Fish.

Eventually however, as most games do after a certain amount of time, Go Fish got boring, and the energies of Sasuke and Naruto became built up as the rain poured on. They arm wrestled, and then each tried to arm wrestle Arashi. And lost. Night drew on, and Arashi suggested they switch their positions to get a different look at the tent. He passed out rations of the remaining pretzels. He had been counting on the fact that they could get fish from the stream and at the lake town have a decent meal, but as it was turning out. After a while, Naruto curled up and fell asleep and one by one the drifted off to the pattering of the rain.

Morning came and the sun had once more decided to show her gleaming face. Arashi stepped out into the cool morning breeze and stretched with a yawn. _What a beautiful morning…_ He had completely forgotten their problem involving their whereabouts. Feeling good he stretched his old joints again…_wait, old joints? Am I losing my mind?_ The Hokage bounced on the balls of his feet and then getting a running start and focusing his chakra to his feet his climbed up the tree. At the top he caught a hold of tree swinging forward as his weight threatened to bring him crashing to the forest floor. The swaying gradually ceased and he looked out across the sea of tree tops. No where, no where could he see the Hokage faces on the cliff side, no Konoha, no nothing, just trees, an endless expanse of trees.

Slowly Arashi descended wondering how on earth they were going to make it back to the village, when they couldn't even see the village.

Naruto was gazing up the tree with Hinata as Arashi came bounding down. He sighed as he landed and the two looked at him expectantly. _I won't frighten them._

"Where's Sasuke?" asked Arashi.

"Sleeping," the two replied at once. Arashi laughed awkwardly.

"We're lost, aren't we?" asked Naruto. Arashi scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

"Uh well…" he began. "Well…yeah,"

"I'll get Sasuke-kun," said Hinata looking between the two of them and feeling more awkward than she normally did. She disappeared into the tent.

"Will we get home?" asked Naruto looking fearfully at his father. Arashi tried to put on a brave smile.

"Of course!" he answered ruffling his son's blonde hair. His voice sounded way more confident than he felt.

"One more thing," said Naruto.

"What is it?" asked Arashi.

"What's that on your face?" asked the boy. Arashi felt his face and a lopsided grin crossed his face when he felt the beginnings of a beard.

"Just getting in touch with the mountain man within me," replied the Yondaime laughing. At that moment Sasuke emerged from the tent with Hinata.

"Okay, let's get that tent taken down and get going!" cheered Arashi.

"Yessir!" they replied. They all trouped into the tent rolled up their sleeping bags and returned outside to take down the tent. Soon they were ready to go. Up Arashi heaved the tent and they started off.

The morning ticked by as they continued down the mountainside still following Sasuke's logic that down the mountain meant the village. No matter how far they walked the mountain side still sank downward. The warm afternoon drenched them as they hiked. Until, they caught up with the storm. It was lulled when they came upon it, the sky dark and threatening but no water yet. They couldn't afford to stop and continued onward. The evening was blurred in the shadows of the storm.

It began to rain as they came to a steep hill of dirt. It didn't look good to Arashi, or Naruto, Hinata or even Sasuke for that matter, but they had no choice. Down they began. The mud was slick beneath their shoes and several times they nearly slipped and fell, and all was going good until Arashi mis-stepped. He struggled to maintain his balance but the blonde jounin went down and began the fast and muddy slide to the bottom, crashing into the other three as he went.

"WEEEEE!" cried Naruto as he went down the natural mudslide, Sasuke joining his cheer not far behind. Hinata giggled with delight as they flew down the mountain side. Arashi tried, to no avail, to stop himself, crying out in the fear the whole way down. At last they were flung into the wet leaves and there they lay panting, and for the three, laughing. At last Arashi ventured to his feet, grabbing a hold of a nearby tree for support. Sasuke pulled up Naruto, who pulled up Hinata. Hinata was giggling; she wiped the mud off her face. They had made it to the bottom of the mountain. Arashi was still struck with fear, and would go no further. Hinata looked around in their time of need, and called out softly.

"C…could someone help?" she whispered. Out of the dark woods appeared none other than the black bear of the day before. Her deep eyes were understanding and fierce. Arashi saw the bear and swayed before it falling to his knees. Hinata looked the bear in the eye.

"C…could you take us home?" she asked. The bear bowed its head in a nod and walked off. "C'mon," said Hinata following after the bear. Within the hour they were at the gates to Konoha, and the bear had vanished in the sheets of rain that now hurled themselves toward earth.

"Ahoy! Arashi-sensei!" came a call from the gate as Kakashi stood at the top of the wall and saluted, but Arashi was on the ground. _We're home!_

"Open the gate!" called Sasuke. The gate inch by inch creaked open across the mud, they walked in through the opening and Arashi headed home. Naruto went to escort his friends to their proper houses.

"N…Naruto-kun, we never got to practice," whispered Hinata as they neared her home.

"Sure we did!" returned Naruto grinning. "We practiced fishing, and hiking and setting up tents,"

"And you practiced talking to bears," added Sasuke. Hinata blushed.

"But that's not what he meant," she whispered.

"So? That's what he said, he never specified," said Sasuke nodding. Hinata felt a little more confident. They had a point.

Hinata waved as they left her at her house.

"Bye Hinata!" called the other two, and she was gone. Then Sasuke was left and soon he too had departed to his home. Naruto returned home to find Arashi asleep on the couch. He grinned and curled up on the floor exhausted. It felt good to be home.

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**I totally luff Team Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata. They rock my socks.**

**Please Review.**

**-Hammy Uchiha  
**


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